Chinese mezzo-soprano Wu Hongni among winners of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions

Based on her performance at the 29 April Grand Finals Concert, Wu Hongni was declared one of the five winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Mezzo-soprano Wu, who hails from Jingdezhen, China, sang “Cruda sorte!” from Gioachino Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and “Wie du warst! Wie du bist!” from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.

Wu Hongni

Wu, just 23, is another young Chinese soprano with evident potential. Her renditions of the two very different arias, accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under the direction of Betrand de Billy, were resonant and expressive. The only non-American in the pool, her eligibility is due to current US residency as a degree candidate at the Manhattan School of Music.